Best cheese fries

The best cheese fries I've ever had are at Michael's in Highland Park, and few in the city even come close to those in my opinion. Nothing makes me more angry is getting a cheese fries and having them doused with "nacho" cheese "sauce".

The closest to Michael's, however, are from the Weiner's Circle. Everyone knows how crazy that place gets late night, but the cheddar fries there are just amazing. They might go a little overboard with the cheese, but a true cheese fry lover can't complain about that!

You can also add Poochie's in Skokie to your list. They use Merkt's cheese exclusively on their cheese fries.

Paradise Pup in Des Plaines is another one that uses Merkt's cheese.

During my pregnancy I had a small cheese fry obsession. Also Merkt's

Muskie's on Lincoln always fit the bill - Large Cheese Fries - Large Coke...

kafein wrote:During my pregnancy I had a small cheese fry obsession. Also Merkt's

Muskie's on Lincoln always fit the bill - Large Cheese Fries - Large Coke...

Does this mean you only liked small orders of fries with cheese, fries that were small served with cheese, or your obsession was short lived? It could be all of the above, I guess.

But seriously, I don't know what kind of cheese they use - it's likely cheese-like goop, but I also like the cheese fries at Buffalo Joe's, particularly the sort that comes with the hot sauce and jalepeno slices. They're waffle-cut fries so there is lots of surface area to scoop up the goods.

I might check out Poochies this evening for cheese fries. This thread has struck a cheesy note in my brain.

Wiener's Circle cheeses a mean fry IMO.

HI,

We used to always have a Merkt almond cheese container in the refrigerator. I love cheese dogs and would use the almond cheese instead of cheddar. I can only imagine almond cheese would be great on fries as well.

When did the cheese fries phenomena start? Michael's in Highland Park was the first place I knew of serving cheese fries. I was under the impression it was the first, though I suspect it may only be the first in my town. Any ideas where this idea of cheese fries began?

When I lived in New Orleans, there was REAL cheese fries. That is, instead of processed cheese (which I admitt after my recent Wisconsin run is pretty darn good), but shredded cheddar. Then the suff was fun under the broiler long enough to melt and burnish the cheese.

Fat Harry's, which I believe is still there on St. Charles, was the leading provider of cheese fries to my crowd (drunk law students who stayed out too late.)

Is there anyone in the Chicago area that makes cheese fries like that?

Rob

Vital Information wrote:When I lived in New Orleans, there was REAL cheese fries. That is, instead of processed cheese (which I admitt after my recent Wisconsin run is pretty darn good), but shredded cheddar. Then the suff was fun under the broiler long enough to melt and burnish the cheese.

Fat Harry's, which I believe is still there on St. Charles, was the leading provider of cheese fries to my crowd (drunk law students who stayed out too late.)

Is there anyone in the Chicago area that makes cheese fries like that?

Rob

VI -

I've never seen that style of cheese fries outside N.O., which is surprising to me b/c they are SO far superior to what I've had up here that it's not even funny. I would think that somebody up here would pick up on it.

My favorite cheese fries down there are at the F&M Patio Bar, where they use those crosscut fry / chip hybrids, a mix of about four different kinds of shredded cheese - broiled to bubbly perfection, and garnished with a generous amount of green onion. Toss a little hot sauce on those bad boys, and you're in heaven....

Poochie's was the first cheese frys that I ever encountered. They were making them before that nacho cheese liquid was invented IIRC. It was at least 24 years ago...probably even much longer.

Vital Information wrote:When I lived in New Orleans, there was REAL cheese fries. That is, instead of processed cheese (which I admitt after my recent Wisconsin run is pretty darn good), but shredded cheddar. Then the suff was fun under the broiler long enough to melt and burnish the cheese.

Fat Harry's, which I believe is still there on St. Charles, was the leading provider of cheese fries to my crowd (drunk law students who stayed out too late.)

Is there anyone in the Chicago area that makes cheese fries like that?

Rob

Rob,

I might be wrong since I haven't visited one in a long time, but you've just described the cheese fries from Lonestar Steakhouse. You only forgot to add the bacon and green onions. These were a favorite of mine when I spent a brief time bartending at one of the area locations.

Flip

Flip's right. See also the "Aussie cheese fries" at Outback. Might be the best thing on the menu at both places.

Buffalo Joe's cheddar chips are my favorite cheese fry, though it is not a fry per se but a waffle cut chip. It does a nice job of holding the cheese evenly. They also use Merkts both for the chips and for their cheeseburgers. The blue cheese burger -mmm- thing of beauty and my first pick when not ordering their wings.

Sounds good. Where is Buffalo Joe's? And does Merkt's make bleu cheese?

It's in Evanston at Clark and Benson. Regarding the blue cheese, I've seen them use it at the restaurant and confirmed it as Merkts but haven't seen it at the store.

Buffalo Joes
812 Clark Street
Evanston, IL
847.328.5525

I've never seen Blue Cheese from Merkts just these:

Cheddar
Port Wine
Garlic & Herb
Bacon
Jalapeno
Swiss Almond
Horseradish

www.merkts.com

Actually there are three Buffalo Joe's or at least were. In addition to the downtown Evanston there is one on the Chicago side of Howard St. and one Buffalo Joe's seafood on Greenbay in Evanston.

HI,

I like Merkts Swiss Almond very much. My Mom likes the port wine. Did you know the red color is from beets? A friend went on a tour of their factory, that was the only nugget of information extracted.

Mr. T. wrote:They also use Merkts both for the chips and for their cheeseburgers.

Mr. T -

Are you sure about the Merkt's on the chips at Buffalo Joe's? I've had them there many times & it's always been that squirt cheese.... I suppose you could conceivably melt Merkt's in one of the squirt deals, though...

Yes, I am almost positive, though it has been about 18 months since I last dined there. They do use one of those heater/squirters to melt the cheese but if you taste the cheese it has that tangy cheddar flavor. Also, if you watch them prep a cheeseburger you can sometimes see them dipping into a merkts container. I am puzzled about the lack of Merkt's blue cheese though - as I have distinct memories of seeing them ladle it on from a Merkt's container. At any rate imho it is a top rate blue cheese burger, especially with grilled onions. Hmm may need to do some on-site research this weekend.

OK I'll take your word for it on the chesse fries @ Buffalo Joe's.

Never had a burger there - I almost always go for the wings (best wings around, IMHO, but that's another thread).

They also have a unique (and very good) additional use for their wing sauce - on a grilled chicken breast sandwich with bacon (I think they call it the "Arizona Chicken" sandwich).

In recent weeks, I've urged my coworkers to help me determine the area's (i.e. Evanston-Skokie) best cheese fries. (It didn't take much convincing.) About two weeks ago, we did a preliminary sampling:







Here are some of the conclusions we drew:
* Cheese fries are difficult to photograph. The problem seemed to be the glimmering cheddar and the tremble of the photographer's hands when she has not had lunch yet and is trying to shoot hot cheese fries.

* Both Poochies and Little Island use Merkt's but of different strengths. Poochies' Merkt's was significantly sharper than that used by Little Island.

* Styrofoam burger boxes make transporting cheese fries far less messy than cardboard baskets wrapped in wax paper.

My colleagues and I could not agree on a favorite, but we identified an interesting correlation. My boss and I quickly agreed that Little Island's were our favorite, fresh cut fries with medium Merkt's cheddar. We also agreed that Herm's were our least favorite, tasteless skinny fries with nacho cheese. (We liked Poochies, but we thought the fries were covered in too much of the sharp Merkt's. We couldn't taste the potatoes.) All of the other tasters agreed on the complete reverse ranking. They found both varieties of the Merkt's overwhelming and favored Herm's fries overall. What we thought interesting was that this second group of tasters was made up of women who all have spent most of their lives in SE Asia. Our theory was that their palates have had less conditioning with cheese in general, and therefore the least rich of the cheeses was most appealing.

Anyway, we plan to continue our search for the best cheese fries. Taking a cue from this thread, we'll add Buffalo Joe's to our list.

Vital Information wrote:When I lived in New Orleans, there was REAL cheese fries. That is, instead of processed cheese (which I admitt after my recent Wisconsin run is pretty darn good), but shredded cheddar. Then the suff was fun under the broiler long enough to melt and burnish the cheese.

Fat Harry's, which I believe is still there on St. Charles, was the leading provider of cheese fries to my crowd (drunk law students who stayed out too late.)

Is there anyone in the Chicago area that makes cheese fries like that?

Rob

When I was a drunk law student in New Orleans we prefered the cheese fries at F & M Patio bar on Tchoupitoulas. Fat Harrys didnt even get hopping until 4am and I needed to eat my fries earlier then 4

I would love to find one of those little cheese fry broilers used to melt the cheese that are de riguer in new orleans bars. i cant even find a picture of one on the internet. Ill keep looking. IMHO those cheese fries blew away everything up here including my personal favorite, poochies

The heart attack -- I mean 3-layer -- fries at Paradise Pup are excellent: french fries, Merkt's cheddar, sour cream and bacon.

How about canadian poutin? Not sure if it's served anywhere in Chicago, but that stuff is fantastic. Fries, fresh cheese curds and covered with hot gravy. Oh heart attack on a plate!

Dear Frank's (at least the original location in downtown Deerfield) uses a spectacular cold pack cheese spread from a place in Wisconsin called Pine River (and they happen to sell it online). While similar to Merkt's, it has a unique and slightly superior finish that anyone who frequents the place can attest to. They keep a big vat of it in the steamer with the hot dog buns which results in a perfect consistency...not too thick and not too runny.

The bad news is the fries by themselves are not that great; they get high marks for being fresh cut...but you have to specify well done or they come out limper than Elton John at a Hawaian Tropic photoshoot.

In the end, it's a toss up between the Circle and Dear Frank's for the title IMHO. Have the person behind the counter at either place toss on a pile of chopped onions and sport peppers and you have a full meal for $3 (best enjoyed after 2am).

It seems to me that a discussion of Chicago area cheese fries and variants wouldn't be complete without Max's Ghetto Fries.



Merkt's cheddar, Italian beef gravy, Max's house giardiniera, BBQ sauce and chopped onion.

Dmnkly wrote:It seems to me that a discussion of Chicago area cheese fries and variants wouldn't be complete without Max's Ghetto Fries.



Merkt's cheddar, Italian beef gravy, Max's house giardiniera, BBQ sauce and chopped onion.

I was reading thru this thread and was going to mention these, and then ...there they were in full color. I do like these!

I forgot the ghetto fries...

I hired Maxs to cater my parents fortieth anniversary bar-b-q at their lake house in southern wisconsin this past July 4. They brought a grill and fryer and made ghetto fries for the party. They were a huge hit and they came out really nicely. BTW Max's did an overall bang up job catering the party if anyone ever needs a place and poochies (our usual go to place) is booked.

Those are so unbelievably better looking than the sodden hideous mess I got at Max's, it's hard to fathom they are from the same place. Clearly a reeat is in order.